The Rashomon Job
by CaptureMeIfYouCan
Summary: Jedi killers versus our favorite assassin. Imprisoned and wrongly accused, Jia must figure out how to escape the clutches of her captors, who just happen to be the infamous Death Watch. A few things are learned, like prison is a good place to make friends, and that nothing is what it seems. Set pre-Jia-being-a-Republic-friendly.
1. Chapter 1

_I know you all have asked for a sequel, but I was talking to my friend/beta-reader (I'll just call her KittyKat for now), and we decided that it would be a good idea to go backwards before we go forwards. So, this is Jia before the Republic, and the story title comes from a Leverage episode and a 1950s movie. Maybe that can give you a hint of what lies in store ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Jia tried the door that had her sealed in this windowless room. Locked. The walls and floor were concrete; no way she could try to kick her way through those. The ceiling was metal, but too high up for her to reach. A single light swung from the ceiling, causing shadows to dance on along the walls.

The assassin girl lay down on the cot in her cell. And then she sat up again. She stared at the wall. And then the door. And then lay back down. _Might as well get some sleep,_ she decided.

It had been three days since she had been captured by a group of people in Mandalorian armor. Three days since she had last seen the light of day. Three days since she had accidentally stumbled into the camp of the blue-and-grey armored Mandos.

Sleep didn't come for her, so she tried a different way of passing the boredom that came with being a prisoner: singing.

First she sang songs by Taylor Swift, then by Toby Keith. Then she started singing songs in Spanish from her favorite artists: Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Kat DeLuna, and Shakira. Then she went back to country songs, this time by Alan Jackson and George Strait.

She was in the middle of singing Dirt Road Anthem when she heard a faint click that signaled the door had been unlocked. Her training took over and she readied herself to fight. First she needed cover, though. That annoying light had to go.

Looking around, Jia found a small rock in the corner of the room. It wouldn't work as a weapon against the armored people, but it would be perfect for shattering the swinging lamp. Drawing on her one season playing softball, she launched the rock up at the ceiling. It hit its mark and a loud _crack_ was heard as the bulb was shattered, sending glass shards flying everywhere.

She grabbed one of the bigger pieces of the broken glass and shrank back into the corner, completely surrounded by darkness. It was relieving. She felt somewhat in control again.

A few seconds later, the door slid open with a _hiss_, allowing light into the room and revealing four of the Mandos. Jia almost laughed. Sure, she hadn't put up much of a fight when they had initially taken her into captivity, but she still expected them to send a larger group to transport a prisoner they had locked in a windowless room.

"_Olaror, dala__,"_ one of them snapped, searching the room for Jia. His head turned and the assassin could feel their gaze on her. She grimaced; they must have heat sensors on their helmets.

Slowly standing from her crouch, she discreetly slipped the shard of glass up the sleeve of her black shirt. They had taken her leather jacket; she would need to get a new one. That had probably irked her more than anything else. That had been her absolute favorite article of clothing, too. It had come with her from Earth to this odd galaxy that was far more advanced in space travel and scientific technology.

"Please repeat in a language I know," Jia said loftily, stepping out of the shadows. "I don't know that language you just spoke."

The one that had found her slapped her across the face, snapping her head to the side.

"Come, _mirci't__,_" he said, giving her the command in very rough Basic, although the name was in that other language. Jia sighed. She might not know this language that these people spoke but she knew an insult when she heard one.

"Say please and I might," she told him. That earned her another slap and having her head yanked to the side as he tangled his hand in her hair and pulled. Binders were slapped onto her wrists and a blindfold was fit over her eyes.

She was dragged down multiple hallways; four and a half of one, to be exact. They had taken three right turn and one left from her cell. Two members of the group that had come to collect her had wandered off into other room; their footsteps had faded away.

She heard a door slide open with a hiss and was lead into another room. She was shoved into a chair, the binders replaced by rope tying her hands together behind the back of the chair. There was a lot of shouting in the foreign language and the sound of many pairs of armored feet. Finally the blindfold was yanked off and Jia blinked multiple times, her eyes adjusting to the harsh lighting of the new room she was in.

"_Tion'ad gar__?"_ the speaker was a female this time, made obvious by her voice. Jia tipped her head to the side and regarded the woman, but remained silent.

"_Ge'hutuun shi jorhaa'ir _Basic_,_" the man that had dragged Jia from the cell spoke up. The woman let out a noisy sigh and then roughly grabbed Jia's chin, forcing the blonde-haired girl to stare up into her visor.

"Who are you?" she spoke slowly and carefully; Basic was obviously not her first language. Or her second, for that matter. Jia pretended to think for a moment, and then she smiled sweetly.

"A liar," she answered. These people had kept her locked in a room for three days with nothing to do; she figured she could at least have a little fun with them.

The woman tightened her grip on Jia's chin, so much so the assassin thought her jaw might break, but then the woman released her. Jia moved her mouth, working out the hurt.

"You are a thief," the woman hissed. "_Ge'hutuun." _

"So that's what that means," Jia said, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Thanks for clearing that up, but I do have a question: what was I stealing?"

* * *

_Translator (there were supposed to be little numbers by the words that corresponded to these big numbers, but it didn't work out so well, so I guess you just have to count):_

_1. Come, woman_  
_2. Prisoner_  
_3. Who are you?_  
_4. The thief only speaks Basic_

_A/N: This is by no means going to be as long as _Angel, _but it will be a few chapters. As always, let me know what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"_Gar jahaatir,_" Snappy, as Jia had decided to call her current interrogator, hissed.

"I swear I didn't steal a blade of grass from you guys, let alone three billion in credits," Jia sighed, rolling her eyes, than mused aloud, "Three billion credits; at least. Y'all must have some good funding or deep pockets or something." She was hit with the side of a gauntlet, not hard enough to knock her out, but hard enough to leave a nice-looking bruise for later. "Ow."

"I said you tell lies," Snappy repeated in Basic.

"Yeah, I know," Jia snapped. "And I said I didn't steal crap from you guys." This time she was rewarded with a kick in the stomach. After she finished coughing, Snappy grabbed her chin for the third or fourth.

"Who do you work for?" she asked slowly.

"You want me to work for you?" Jia asked. "I'll work for you. Who do you want me to go kill? I can go kill the ugly old man that's a Count of something if you want. Is that what you want? Because I didn't steal _anything_ from you."

At her proposition, Snappy released her chin and stood up straight. She looked around at the other people in the room, and they started conversing quickly in that other language.

"Why do you offer such services?" Snappy asked suspiciously, finally turning back to Jia.

"Because it's what I do," Jia answered in an even tone. "Hunt and kill."

"You're a bounty hunter," Snappy spat out the title as if the words left an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

"Incorrect," Jia retorted. "I'm an assassin."

"Then you're no better," Snappy snapped.

"Neither are you," Jia snapped back. "You kill people. Innocents. I can tell. By the way you walk, as if you're weighed down by something that you're proud of. And it's in your eyes when you look at me: you hate me and can't wait to chop my head off."

"You are not innocent," Snappy hissed.

"You aren't either," Jia said with a half-smile. "So I guess we're even."

Snappy hit Jia once more and then turned and stalked out of the room. Some of the other armored people followed, but two remained. Jia sighed and looked over at one of them.

"So, can I go back to my wonderful comfy cell or am I stuck here?" she asked.

"_Ne'johaa, mirci't," _he growled. Jia rolled her eyes again.

"I can't speak whatever language that is," she reminded them with another sigh. The second Mando approached her and tangled his hand in her hair, yanking her head back.

"He said shut up, bitch," he told her, pronouncing each word carefully. Jia narrowed her eyes at him, and then stuck her tongue out.

"I doubt he called me the name, though," she said after a moment. The man just tightened his grip in her hair. "Owie, owie, owie," Jia yelped. The man released her hair and returned to where he had been standing.

After about thirty minutes, Snappy reappeared, followed by another Mando with his helmet clipped to his belt. A male, a tall male; with pale hair and pale eyes and pale skin. A long ugly scar ran down one side of his face.

"You offered to kill Count Dooku?" he asked without preamble.

"You speak English," Jia commented out loud. At the man's slightly puzzled look, she amended her mistake. "I mean Basic."

"So do you," the man retorted evenly. "Now, did you offer to kill Count Dooku?"

"For the right price, maybe," Jia answered. "But you answer to my terms. I don't work any other way."

The man slapped her, and her head was snapped to the side again. A tooth sliced her lip, and Jia licked it, smearing the blood and making it look as if she had on bright red lipstick. _I'm getting tired of being slapped._

"You work on my terms," the man said. Jia raised an eyebrow.

"Then the job doesn't get done," she told him. The man chuckled and leaned down so he was eyelevel with her.

"You are my prisoner, sitting bound to a chair, in a room you can't get out of, weaponless, helpless, and injured; and yet you still think you can bargain with me?" he asked. Jia shrugged.

"What can I say?" she asked. "I don't like playing by other people's rules."

"I'll think about it," the man said after many minutes of silence.

"Fine, but first I'll need a name," Jia ordered. The man gave her a feral grin. It was wild and animal; and downright terrifying.

"Pre Vizsla," he complied at last. "Leader of _Kyr'tsad." _Jia raised an eyebrow.

"Leader of who?" she asked.

"_Kyr'tsad,_" Vizsla repeated. At Jia's confused look he translated. "Death Watch." Jia groaned audibly.

"Great," she said sarcastically. "I've been captured by a group of wannabe terrorists."

Predictably, that earned her another annoying slap.

* * *

Sugi was frustrated. Very frustrated. She was a bounty hunter. She was supposed to be out there hunting down the wanted good guys, shooting down the wanted bad guys. She _wasn't_ supposed to be stuck in a cell, having been captured by a group of people she had never heard of.

Although, she was very proud of what she had accomplished prior to being caught. She had been hired by this group to steal something from the Separatist leader Count Dooku. Information. It wasn't what she usually did, but the pay was good. Or had been. Until her employers had decided to try and rip her off.

In retaliation she had hacked into their bank network and relived them of three billion credits. She wasn't the best person at a computer, but she had been smart enough to bounce the signal off the nearest computer, which had been hopefully one of their own.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been quick enough on getting away from the camp. She had been spotted, chased, taken down, captured, and thrown into this cell. She had remained in this same cell for the past few days. Nothing of excitement had happened so far.

That changed as soon as her cell door slid open and a young girl was thrown into the room. She was gagged, bound, and blindfolded, but she was struggling valiantly and managing to make a string of curse words very understandable despite the gag. Her escorts snarled something at her that sounded equally as vulgar as what she was saying before closing and locking the door.

Sugi moved cautiously towards her new roommate. People who were prisoners often acted like cornered animals. Slowly and carefully, she removed the blindfold from the girl and found herself staring into bright blue eyes.

"Amf voo akt oot ke agh?" the girl asked after a moment. Sugi raised her eyebrows and untied the gag.

"Repeat, please," she said. The girl's lip curled up in a half-smile.

"I said can you take out the gag," she repeated.

"Sure," Sugi said. The girl laughed quietly and sat up off the floor.

"Thanks," the girl said. "I can get the rest myself." At first Sugi thought she was being sarcastic, but as she was speaking the girl had already somehow shimmied out of her bounds.

Sugi offered a hand down to help her up and the girl accepted. The bounty hunter pulled her up from dirty floor and the girl gave her a grateful glance.

"Name's Sugi," the bounty hunter introduced herself. "Yours?"

"Archangel," the girl answered after a beat.

"That's your name?" Sugi didn't believe it for a second. The girl gave another half-smile.

"It's my call sign," she corrected. "But it's the only name you're getting." Sugi shrugged.

"Fair enough," she said. "So what did you do?" Archangel actually started laughing, though Sugi didn't know why. Finally she sobered up enough to answer.

"Well, according to Mr. Pre Vizsla, the leader of _Kyr'tsad_, aka Death Watch, and his little annoying assistant Snappy, I stole three billion credits," she answered. "What about you?" It was Sugi's turn to laugh, though not quite as much as the girl.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," she said after a moment. Archangel raised her eyebrow.

"Try me," she sighed. Sugi shrugged again.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'm the one who actually stole the three billion credits."

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_Hope you liked it! You know the routine. Read, review, enjoy. :)_


	3. Chapter 3

Pre Vizsla paced before both Jia and Sugi. He had decided to interrogate them together, perhaps hoping one would give the other up. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. The two females just sat there, staring innocently up at him, not saying a word.

"Fine," he snapped. "I want to hear your stories. One at a time." He nodded at Sugi. "You go first."

She shared a glance with Jia, and the assassin girl nodded slightly, trying not to smile. Sugi took a deep breath, and began her story.

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_I know, I know, it's super super super short. But the next chapter will be longer. I promise!_


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